Commuting and Time Consuming

Thousands of people have come to Spain to work as language teaching assistants, or “auxiliares de conversación” in Spanish schools.

This year, 239 of these language teaching assistants told us about their experiences by filling out a survey that was written and analyzed by me, Kate Peregrina. I had time to do all this because I work as an auxiliar de conversación.

About reading the graphs:

“N = ” tells the number of responses to each question.

The number in brackets [ ] is the number of responses to a particular answer

On some bar graphs the percentages add up to over 100% because respondents were asked to check all that apply.

Here’s what 239 language assistants in Spain had to say about their commutes during the 2013-2014 academic year.

Live vs. Work

The response “One” means that the language assistant works in two schools in two different cities/towns, and they live in one of these cities/towns that they work in.

“Work Population” is the population of the city/town the respondent works in.

Commuting

Respondents were asked:

In an average day, how many minutes does it take you to get from your home TO your school?

In an average day, how many minutes does it take you to get home FROM your school?

These two answers were added to find each respondents Daily Commute Time.

Respondents Daily Commute Time was multiplied by the number of days they work per week to find their Weekly Commute Time.

Here is a table that shows the average daily commute times, average work days per week, and average weekly commute times.

On average, survey respondents who do not live in the city/town they work in spend 4 more hours a week commuting than survey respondents who live in the city/town they work in.

Extra Hours at School

Respondents were asked

How many a week they WORK at their school(s)

How many hours a week they SPEND at their school(s)

The Extra Hours at School is the difference between these two numbers, basically it is the time spend at school while not working.

Extra Hours at School was added to Commute Time to find the Total Excess Hours.

Excess Hours are the sum of time it takes to get to and from school per week, and the weekly time spent at school while not working.

Respondents who lived in the city they work in had an average of 4 excess hours a week more than respondents who lived in they worked in.